A/N: Again, thank you so much for reading this!

Chapter Three:

Murasakibara´s Block

The doorbell rang.

´So annoying…´

Murasakibara shambled at the door, chewing a sour candy.

One of the tedious things about being youngest of siblings was that he couldn´t make someone else to do things for him like opening the door. His three older brothers were so annoying ´cos they didn´t live with parents. Just his bigsister, Akane, still lived at home but she was busy with her entrance exams for college, and so mom and dad adored her.

But Murasakibara was also heading away, to high school. Away from whining Kuroko and boss Akashi.

For his irritation, there was no one behind the door. Maybe kids from neighborhood were playing some stupid trickgame… Murasakibara would crush them…

But then he saw a box at the porch. Murasakibara raised it and saw his own name on it.

He hadn´t ordered anything…

He opened the box and saw a short letter. It was a greeting from University of Sendai. Under the letter, the box was full of diffent kinds of candies.

´Hmm…´

Murasakibara was definitely not going to Sendai, but he could still keep the bribe. He swallowed the sourcandy and took one butterscotchstick from the box. It was delicious.

He went back inside and took the candybox in his room. Then he played five minutes with some new gameapp, but it was boring… So boring he started to feel sleepy. It was still early but who cares. In the past, he´d been at baseballhall at this time but now it was meaningless.

Murasakibara crawled in his bed and fell asleep right away.

When he woke up, it felt like he´d slept hours but it didn´t help at all. He was still tired. Like more tired than usually at the morning. He took a sweet from the box and ate it. It was seven am. He tried to get up, but it felt wrong. He was powerless. So, he fell on his back and slept some more.

´Atsu, wake up! You´ve been sleeping the hole day!´

´Mmh.´

He had a headache. Stupid Akane, yelling his name.

´You got a fever? I´ll get you some medicine.´

Murasakibara tried to get up, but he just fell off the bed. Then he puked.

Shit.

Kise´s home

The stranger´s face stared him from the mirror. Kise had avoided mirrors a week but today he´d to face the truth. Mom forced him to school. Kise wanted to see himself before the others would make fun of him.

His expression was odd and pale. Circumference of his eye was still purple. Brows had grown a little. The lack of hair was the most awful thing.

Kise stroked his head and sighed. Yesterday he had stopped to cry over his looks. When mom made crime report with him, she had noted that even worse could´ve happen. His hair and brows would grow back. Kise´d lose his salaries for couple of weeks but he would survive.

Money wasn´t the main point. Kise though angrily how Haizaki used Reiko. Even though that girl was a partner in crime, Kise couldn´t be angry to her. He didn´t even know her but somehow, he knew that Haizaki didn´t care about her. Reiko was scared of him. People obeyed easily others who seemed to be powerful.

Kise took his schoolbag and walked to downstairs. He thought about his own behavior. When he got to be regular at Teiko´s team, he couldn´t imagine anything bigger. He felt that he was part of something special. When they won Nationals, he knew they were powerful. They were Generation of Miracles. Kise obeyed his captain, Akashi, because no one ever proposed anything bigger than he. Akashi was a little scary but Kise hadn´t told this thought to anyone.

Way to school, no one looked him twice. Girls didn´t smile at him or blush.

This isn´t so weird after all… Strange.

But then, at the next crossroads, he saw Aomine walking above.

Damn.

Kise stopped and squeezed the strap of his bag. Maybe he wouldn't go to school but spent his day at some distant park.

But then Kise heard a familiar voice behind him:

´Aomine-kun!´

Well, fuck.

That yeller poked him accidentally on the side. Kise dodged pink haired Momoi, who ran past him.

His stomach felt like it was twisting.

´Oh, sorry – Oi!´

Momoi looked behind her, stopped and stared at him, speechless.

Kise tilted his head.

´You don´t like my new style, Momochi?´

He hated his own jittery voice. Momoi had raised his hand in front of his mouth. Kise patted his head and gave a nervous laugh. He hadn´t prepared for this.

´Who did that?´ asked Aomine with gloomy face, hands on pockets.

Crap… Of course that streetanimal recognized a black eye even in the dark.

´Er… It´s a long story…´

´Kise-kun´, Momoi started speaking with worry, ´is that why you haven´t been at school? Because someone hurt you?´

Kise looked at the ground. Then he nodded and said:

´Haizaki.´

There was a short silence. Then Kise added:

´You didn´t actually think I´d favor this hairstyle?´

Momoi cried. Aomine looked serious. After a while he said:

´That shithead will taste his own medicine.´

Kise winced. Somehow Aomine´s anger touched him. Someone of the Genereation of Miracled cared about him, after all. Kise raised his head and smiled shortly.

´Thanks, Aominechi… But let the police handle this first. I don´t want that no one… that you got trouble.´

Aomine growled out, turned and walked toward the school. Kise and Momoi followed him.

´I hope Midorima-kun is okey´, Momoi said, ´he had been four days at the hospital. He got a baseball on his eye – but thank God he´s didn´t lose his sight.´

Kise hadn´t heard about this accident. Weird, how he and Midorima both had injuries in the short term.

´Did you hear that Meiko´s team quit?´ asked Momoi soon. She seemed chary.

´What?´ Kise was surprised.

´Yes… They all quit basketball. I heard it from coach… He had talked with Meiko´s coach. They were dispirited after finalgame. That´s so sad…´

Kise nodded.

Momoi looked at Aomine´s back but this was just walking forward, looking down. Fortunately, he didn´t pointed out how boring all the opponents were.

Momoi and Aomine had known each other's since thay´re children. During this semester, they seemed to be more distant than before. Momoi spent a lot time with Kuroko (they were even on a date once) but Aomine didn´t seem to care. Laughing and joking Aomine had turned to gloomy and low-voiced Aomine.

No wonder Momoi wasn´t interested about his company anymore.

Ass.

´Kuroko was a friend with that one player from Meiko´, Kise remembered.

´Yes´, Momoi agreed and was still staring Aomine, ´Ogiwara and Tetsu-kun are childhood friends.´

Kise kicked a small rock and muttered:

´We did wrong.´

They arrived at the schoolyard. Kise sighed. Momoi patted him on the back and said cheerfully:

´It´s gonna be okay, Kise-kun. If someone comments your look, Aomine-kun will beat him up.´

´Wha?´Aomine turned his head finally and looked at her.

´I just like to see when you got excited about something´, Momoi said smiling, ´Aomine-kun

Aomine walked closer to her.

´Stop calling me that, it´s sounds stupid.´

Momoi smirked and asked hands behind her back:

´Well then, how´d you like me to call you?´

Aomine´s jaw was jerking. He looked so irritated that Kise had to hold his laugh. At the same time Kise felt joy. A minor detail from the past was maybe coming back: Aomine and Momoi spending time with him.

The bell rang. They headed to lockers and chanced their shoes.

´Why aren´t you with Kuroko, like U use to?´ asked Aomine from Momoi and slammed his locker shut.

Kise grinned, face toward his locker. He had often though himself that Aomine had a crush on Momoi but he hadn´t admitted that even for himself.

´He hasn´t responded my messages.´

Nobody paid attention to Kise. Normally at least one girl started to chat with him before the first class. But now he got to be together with his friends.

Hospital

´What? A positive result?´

´Yes, ma´m. I´m sorry.´

´Oh… Atsushi…´

´Has there been any chances in him lately?´

´Well, he quit at his basketballteam… Maybe after that, he had been a little more tired than usually… Oh, Atsushi…´

Murasakibara heard voices but he couldn´t open his eyes. He was so tired. The bed felt harder than before. He smelled the cleaner.

´We´ll keep him here three days, till his blood is pure´, unfamiliar voice of a man said, ´then he can move home or, like I strongly recommend, to rehab. As a parent, you can deside.´

Mom was crying.

Wait a minute… Rehab?

Murasakibara forces his eyes open. He stared at the white ceiling. This wasn´t his room. He turned his head and saw his mom standing near with a doctor. He saw trip hose and a syringe in his arm.

´This will remain on his papers´, doctor told with calm voice and put a hand on her shoulder. Mom looked so upset.

´Who´d have believed?´ whispered mom. ´Drugs…´

Murasakibara opened his mouth but words didn´t came out.

I didn´t used drugs… I love basketball, damn, I´m not an idiot who waste his career…

Then his eyes closed and he fell into uncertainty.

Murasakibara stood on the court and tried to block. He saw a few doctors in front of him, passing and tossing. One after another they dunked and ignored him. One of them had red eyes. He´s smile was cruel. He took Murasakibara´s hand and asked:

´Who´s fault is this, Murasakibara?´

Terrified, Murasakibara looked at the red eyes. The doctor took drip hose off Murasakibara´s arm. When nails immersed on his flesh, Murasakibara yelled with pain.

´You know, in basketball, you´re not supposed to toss the ball on your own basket´, doctor said and let go of him.

Murasakibara opened his eyes. He gasped heavily.

He saw his mom sitting next to his bed. She looked sad.

´I haven´t use drugs!´ Murasakibara mumbled.

Mom didn´t answer. She stroked his head.

´One of your friends visited here´, mom told after a while.

´Okey…´

´Funny, I don´t remember his name´, mom was wondering. ´He was very polite. He brought you some chocolate, he must know you well…´

Must be Akashi… He was the only one with extra money… Though, he wasn´t the type who cared about others.

Murasakibara was too tired to notice it, but there was a scratch on his arm. It was a shape of number one.